Poll shows incumbent Bost leading challenger Baricevic in 12th U.S. House race

U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, is leading Democratic challenger C.J. Baricevic 51 to 35 percent, with 14 percent undecided, in a poll of 12th U.S. House District voters released Monday by Harper Polling, a GOP-leaning polling firm.

Baricevic said he did not put much stock in the poll results.

“Frankly, I think the only poll that matters is the poll that’s going to occur in November 2016,” he said. “I wouldn’t put a whole lot of stock in a poll paid for by Republicans.”

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The 12th U.S. House District covers Madison, St. Clair and 10 other counties in the southernmost part of Illinois.

Baricevic, 30, of Belleville, who is a personal injury attorney, is so far the only Democrat to enter the March 15 primary. The winner of that primary will face Bost, a freshman incumbent, in the November 2016 general election.

Bost is also viewed favorably by majorities of Republican voters (71 percent) and independents (53 percent), according to the survey from Harper Polling, which is based in Harrisburg, Pa.

In addition, 71 percent of voters surveyed said they believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction, while another 21 percent said it was moving in the right course. Likely voters were almost evenly split between a generic Republican candidate (43 percent) and a Democratic candidate (41 percent), with 9 percent of voters responding they are not sure, according to the poll.